The Week In Review
4/11-4/15/11
April 15, 2011U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Friday after a series of economic reports took some of the sting from disappointing earnings results from search giant Google and Bank of America. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 18 points to 12,303. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 2 points to 1,317. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 9 points to 2,750. Google is down 7% following disappointing earnings. Apple is lower as well and Cisco is lower on a downgrade, but the rest of the techs are holding up better. Motorola Mobility and VMware are higher on upgrades. IBM, Research in Motion, and Intel are higher. Bank of America is lower, but the rest of the financials are holding up better. Webster Financial is up 2% after beating estimates. Charles Schwab is up 3% after beating estimates. Fifth Third is higher on an upgrade. The big winner so far is Assured Guaranty up 25% after receiving a check for a billion dollars from Bank of America for liabilities for bond insurance. All the bond insurers are acting well. MasterCard is lower on a downgrade. In the retail space Mattel is up 4% on earnings. Finish Line and Foot Locker are both up 4% on upgrades. CBS is higher on an upgrade. American Eagle is up 2% on rumored takeovers. Hasbro is unchanged on an upgrade. Urban Outfitters is down 3% after a key executive left. Best Buy is down 2% on cautious comments. After the first hour the averages remained in the green, but not by much. Through the morning the averages improved with the Dow rising 70 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average components look good except for Bank of America. The defensive stocks are acting well. Philip Morris, Altria, and Kraft are trading at 52 week highs. The drug sector is also performing well. Outside these sectors the markets really don't look so good. In the afternoon the rally started to fizzled. In the tech sector Google and Apple pushed lower. The rest of the techs are holding up better. Within the financials, Bank of America moved lower, the weakest Dow component. In the last hour the averages gave up a little more of their gains, but remained in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 57 points at 12,342, for a weekly loss of 0.3%. The S&P 500 Index rose 5 points to close at 1,320, for a weekly loss of 0.6%/ The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 4 points to 2,765 for a weekly loss of 0.6%.
April 14, 2011
U.S. stocks started lower on Thursday after the government reported unemployment claims climbed for the first time in three weeks and wholesale prices rose 0.7% in March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 50 points to 12,220. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 6 points to 1,307. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 18 points to 2,743. Every sector is trading lower this morning. The techs are lower ahead of Google's earnings tonight. Fairchild Semi opened higher this morning following earnings, but then sold off by 5%. Intel is lower by a percent on a downgrade. Broadcom was upgraded, but the stock is lower. The financials are particularly weak this morning. Goldman Sachs downgraded the sector. Speaking of Goldman Sachs , that stock is down 2% on alleged deception in front of the Senate Panel. JP Morgan reported strong earnings yesterday, but the stock is trading down 2% this morning even as FBR raised earnings estimates for JP Morgan. The commodities for the most part are lower once again. The fertilizers and the rare earth metals are modestly higher. With the commodities lower, the transportation sector is performing better. JB Hunt is up 5% thanks to strong earnings and an upgrade. The autos are lower this morning. Ford is recalling a million F-150 trucks. Goldman Sachs upgraded Toyota, but the stock is lower. With the first hour the averages pushed lower, but then rebounded. In the retail space Supervalu is up 11% after beating estimates. The largest McDonalds franchise owner in Argentina came public today on the NYSE Exchange. The stock is up 26% from its' IPO price. Through the morning the averages remained in the red. In the afternoon the Dow fought back thanks to a number of defensive plays. Kraft and Coke are trading at new 52 week highs. In the last hour the Dow improved with the Dow rally over 20 points dragging the Nasdaq back to the unchanged level. The financials and most techs remained weak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 14 points at 12,285 with Kraft Foods and Coca-Cola leading advancers. The S&P 500 edged up 11 cents to 1,314. The Nasdaq Composite ended down a point to 2,760.
April 13, 2011
U.S. stocks opened higher Wednesday, bouncing back from the prior day's steep drop, after earnings from bank powerhouse J.P. Morgan Chase topped expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 54 points to 12,318. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 5 points to 1,320, with energy up the most among its 10 industry groups. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 17 points to 2,762. The financials are in the lead with JP Morgan up over a percent after beating estimates and initiating a $15 billion buyback plan. iStar Financial is up 4% on an upgrade. The commodities are rebounding after getting hit pretty good yesterday. Cliffs Natural Resources is up 2.5% on an upgrade. Alcoa, however, is not rebounding. Brazilian steelmaker, Gerdau is down 3% after raising more stock. After the first half an hour the financials gave up most of their gains due to conservative guidance on the JP Morgan's conference call. Many of the commodities are also pulling back. The techs are holding their gains. Google looks good on an upgrade. Rival Baidu.com is also higher on an upgrade. Alcatel, Xilinx, and Altera are all higher on upgrades. After the first hour the Dow was only up 20 points while the Nasdaq remained strong up 20 points. Through the morning the averages improved even as the financials remain weak. During the lunch hour the Dow rolled over dragging the Nasdaq with it. In the afternoon following the beige book better than expected economic data boosted the major averages back into the green. The financials and a number of commodities remain in the red. In the last hour the rally in the Dow fizzled while the Nasdaq remained in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 7 points to 12,270. Caterpillar was the biggest gainer rising 1%. J.P. Morgan Chase shares lost 0.8% as enthusiasm for the bank's strong profit growth waned after their executives spoke more conservatively on the conference call. The S&P 500 inched up 25 cents to 1,314. The Nasdaq Composite gained 16 points to 2,761. Stocks spent much of the day tracking crude-oil futures, which ended higher above $107 a barrel.
April 12, 2011
U.S. stocks opened lower Tuesday after Japan raised its nuclear-disaster level and Alcoa disappointing first-quarter revenue growth weighed on sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 70 points to 12,311. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 7 points to 1,317. The Nasdaq Composite fell 13 points to 2,757. The broader market opened in the red led by commodities. Alcoa is down 4% dragging the sector with it. No one is being spared. Goldman Sachs is adding fuel to the fire by predicting a significant pull back in the price of oil in the coming months. That has the oils and oil drillers trading lower. One sector benefitting from the drop in oil is the transports. The airlines likes US Airways, AMR, and United are all up over 2%. FedEx and UPS are also trading higher. The autos are lower after Toyota and now Ford are warning of supply disruptions due to the Japanese earthquake. The financials opened lower as Goldman cut Morgan Stanley's estimates. The stock is down 1%. JP Morgan is lower ahead of earnings tomorrow. Blackstone is up a percent on an upgrade. In the tech space only Apple is showing some life as RBC made positive comments on the tech titan. Ebay and Google also received positive comments, but both stocks are lower. Cisco is modestly higher after announcing job cuts. Through the first hour the averages pushed lower led by commodities. The Dow dropped over 100 points while the Nasdaq declined 27 points. Through the morning the averages remained weak with the Dow remaining down over 100 points and the Nasdaq down 30 points. The weakness remains concentrated in the commodities. In the afternoon the Dow improved a little bit thanks to the financials. However, in the last hour the averages sold back off. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 117 points, or 1%, at 12,263, led by a 6% drop in the shares of Alcoa and a 3.3% drop in Chevron following the biggest one-day drop in the price of oil in a month. The S&P 500 lost 10 points to 1,314, with energy and materials sectors leading decliners. The Nasdaq Composite lost 26 points, or 1%, to 2,744.
April 11, 2011
U.S. stocks opened modestly higher on Monday, the start of first-quarter earnings season, with investors optimistic about corporate results ahead. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 29 points to 12,409. Alcoa is up a percent ahead of earnings tonight. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 2 points to 1,331. The Nasdaq Composite gained 10 points to 2,790. Plenty of news to start the week with a couple of takeovers. Global Crossing and Tasty Foods are up 58% and 145% respectively after agreeing to be taken over. Plenty of takeover rumors hitting the markets as well including Tyco which is up 4%. The commodities look good. Cliffs Natural Resources is up a percent on positive comments regarding an arbitration case with steelmaker Arcelor Mittal. Freeport McMoran is higher on an upgrade. The oils look great due to Morgan Stanley upgrading a number of the drillers. Rare earth metal company Molycorp is jumping 6% this morning on an upgrade. The stock is up 50% in the last month. Not bad. The financials look good. Bank of America and Wells Fargo received positive comments. Janus Capital is up 3% on an upgrade. The big cap techs are the weakest link this morning. Apple, Google, and IBM are all lower. Intel is modestly higher on an upgrade. Symantec is higher as well on an upgrade. Within the first hour the Dow rose 50 points before pulling back a little. The Nasdaq fell into the red due to the weakness in Apple among others. Through the morning the Dow improved again as the Nasdaq moved back into the green. The auto sector is weak on comments from Toyota regarding possible supply shortages due to the Japanese earthquake disaster. Through the morning the rally fizzled. During the lunch hour the averages fell into the red. Fewer and fewer stocks are left in the green. In the afternoon Goldman Sachs put out a negative piece on a number of commodity metals indicating short term they may be due for a correction. Investors took the news to heart selling the commodity space sending all three major averages into the red. In the last hour the major averages were able to recover. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up a point at 12,381. The S&P 500 closed down 3 points at 1,324. The Nasdaq Composite lost 8 points to 2,771.